Samsung Galaxy S22: Australian price, features and release date
It's February, which means it's time for the latest crop of Samsung flagship phones. And because it's 2022 it means we're up to the Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+. Here's everything Australians need to know about the price, features and release date.
Read more in our first look reviews of the S22 and the S22+.
Samsung Galaxy S22 pre-order deal
Design
Both the S22 and S22+ have a familiar design. This is up to and including the same lens and camera bump, albeit with slightly less interesting colour ways unless you snap up an online exclusive. The lavender with rose gold bump is still hot hot hot. As for the regular colours, you'll find Phantom Black, Phantom Gold, Green and Pink Gold.
If you're looking for something completely different, you'll want to head on over to the Ultra, which has a unique design compared to its smaller S22 siblings.
Speaking of which, let's talk size. Both the S22 and the S22+ are 0.1 inches smaller than their predecessors, coming in at 6.1 and 6.6 inches respectively. They also both have FHD+ AMOLED displays with that spicy 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. You literally love to see it.
Specs and features
Under the hood you'll find something we Australian tech reviewers have been coveting for years – an 8th gen Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.
This is the first time a Samsung flagship (that isn't a foldable) has launched here with a Qualcomm processor, as opposed to Samsung's own Exynos offering. And it's very exciting.
We can't wait to see how this might impact things like performance and battery life.
Speaking of which, it's a bit of a mixed bag this time around. The regular S22 is getting a small bump up to 3,700mAh compared to the S21, which is nice to see. However, the S22+ is getting decreased to 4,500mAh, compared to 4,800mAh last year.
While I'm hoping the new chipset and battery optimisation may help, that 120Hz screen is concerning here.
When it comes to RAM and storage options, they're the same for both devices: 8GB with either 128GB or 256GB of storage.
The S22+ does have faster charging, Wi-Fi 6E and ultra wideband functionality to set it apart a bit more. But is this enough of a difference?
Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ camera
Interestingly the S22 and S22+ have exactly the same camera lenses. On paper that means a 50MP wide, 12MP ultra-wide and 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. And then on the front we have a 10MP selfie cam.
There are a couple of interesting things here. Firstly, there is a 64MP primary lens in the S21 and S21+. Why the hardware downgrade? Our guess is that Samsung is putting its eggs in the Snapdragon basket as well as its other software and AI features. Here's hoping.
It's also interesting that Samsung is going with the same hardware set-up with both devices again. Why are there still 2 of these?
Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+: Australian price and availability
The Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+ is on pre-order from 10 February. Amazon has a massive pre-order offer that includes a bonus Echo Show 8 2nd gen (RRP $199) as well as a bonus gift pack from Samsung worth up to $337.
Pre-order here and use the code Finder 50.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 will start at $1,249 in Australia for the 8GB/128GB version. The S22+ will start at $1,549. You can also buy them on a plan and we have them all broken down here.
The devices will go on sale in Australia on 4 March, 2022.